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DICK (the Reverend) JOHN,
D.D., an eminent divine of the Scottish Secession church, was born at
Aberdeen on the 10th October, 1764. His father, the reverend Alexander
Dick, a native of Kinross, was minister of the Associate congregation of
Seceders in that city.
Of the earlier years of Dr
Dick little more is known than that he distinguished himself at the
grammar school. On entering the university, in October, 1777, when in his
thirteenth year, he obtained a bursary in King’s College, having been
preferred to competitors of long standing.
Dr Dick entered on his
University course in King’s College, which he had been induced to prefer
to Marischal’s, on account of the advantages to be derived from the
bursary which he had obtained. Here he studied humanity under professor
Ogilvie, Greek under Leslie, and philosophy under professor Dunbar, and on
30th March, 1781, he took the degree of A.M.
On the arrival of the
period when it became necessary for him to choose a profession, he
determined on devoting himself to the ministry in connection with the
Secession, but to this resolution many of his friends were opposed; some
of whom pressed him to join the Scottish establishment, others the
Episcopal, while his father expressed an aversion to his dedicating
himself to the ministry at all, from a fear that he was not at heart
sufficiently devoted to the sacred calling which he desired to assume. He,
however, adhered to his original resolution, and proceeded to prepare
himself accordingly.
In 1780, after undergoing
the usual examination, he was admitted by the Associate presbytery of
Perth and Dunfermline, to attendance in the divinity ball, Aberdeen, then
under the superintendence of the celebrated John Brown of Haddington,
where he studied for five years, spending during this time the greater
part of his vacations with a paternal uncle, who took great pains in
improving the language of his young relative, and in assisting him to rid
himself of the provincial peculiarities by which it was disfigured.
On entering the divinity
hall, a very remarkable temporary change took place in Dr Dick’s
personal manners. From being extremely lively and gay in his deportment,
he, all at once, became grave and thoughtful, and continued thus for two
years, when he again resumed the original and natural characteristics he
had thus so strangely and suddenly laid aside, and remained under their
influence throughout the rest of his life, which was distinguished by a
singular flow of animal spirits. The cause of this change of manner is
said to have been certain deep religious impressions which had imprinted
themselves on his mind, and had weighed on his spirits during the two
years of his altered demeanour.
Dr Dick now devoted
himself, in an especial manner, to classical literature, and pursued his
studies in this department of learning with a zeal and assiduity which
soon introduced him to an intimate and extensive acquaintance with the
more celebrated writers of antiquity. He also laboured assiduously to
acquire a mastery of the English language, to eradicate Scotticisms from
his speech and writings, and to attain a pure and elegant style; a pursuit
in which he was greatly aided by the celebrated Dr Beattie, who was then
reckoned a master in the art of composition.
In 1785, Dr Dick, who had
now attained the age of twenty-one, received his license as a preacher
from the Associate presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline, and soon
afterwards began to attract notice by the elegance of his sermons, the
gracefulness of his delivery, and the dignity and fervour of his manner in
the pulpit. The consequence of this favourable impression was, that he
received shortly after being licensed, simultaneous calls from three
several congregations, - those of Scone, Musselburgh, and Slateford, near
Edinburgh, to the last named of which he was appointed by the synod, and
was ordained on the 26th October, 1786, at the age of twenty-two.
With this appointment Dr
Dick was himself highly gratified. He liked the situation, and soon became
warmly attached to his people, who, in their turn, formed the strongest
attachment to him. During the first year of his ministry he lived with Dr
Peddie of Edinburgh, there being no residence for him in the village. One,
however, was built, and at the end of the period named, he removed to it,
and added to his other pursuits the culture of a garden which had been
assigned him, and in which he took great delight. A few years afterwards
he married Miss Jane Coventry, second daughter of the reverend George
Coventry of Stitchell in Roxburghshire; a connexion which added greatly to
his comfort and happiness.
Dr Dick’s habits were at
this time, as indeed they also were throughout the whole of his life,
extremely regular and active. He rose every morning before six o’clock
and began to study, allowing himself only from two to three hours’
recreation in the middle of the day, when he visited his friends, or walked
alone into the country. Nor was his labour light, for, although an
excellent extempore speaker, he always wrote the discourses he meant to
deliver, in order to ensure that accuracy and elegance of language which,
he rightly conceived, could not be commanded, or at least depended on in
extemporaneous oratory. The consequence of this care and anxiety about his
compositions was a singular clearness, conciseness, and simplicity of
style in his sermons. Nor was he less happy in the matter than the manner
of his discourses. The former was exceedingly varied and comprehensive;
embracing nearly the whole range of theology.
In 1788, two years after
his settlement at Slateford, Dr Dick made his first appearance as an
author. In that year he published a sermon, entitled "The Conduct and
Doom of False Teachers," a step suggested by the publication of
"A Practical Essay on the Death of Christ, by Dr M’Gill of Ayr,"
in which Socinian opinions were openly maintained. The general aim of Dr
Dick’s discourse was to expose all corrupters of the truth, particularly
those, who, like Dr M’Gill, disseminated errors, and yet continued to
hold office in a church whose creed was orthodox. During all the debates
in this case, which took place before the General Assembly, Dr Dick
attended, and took a deep interest in all the proceedings connected with
it which occurred in that court.
The subject of this memoir
did not appear again as an author till 1796, when he published another
sermon, entitled "Confessions of Faith shown to be necessary, and the
Duty of Churches with respect to them Explained." This sermon, which
was esteemed a singularly able production, had its origin in a controversy
then agitated on the subject of the Westminster Confession of Faith in
relation to seceders who were involved in an inconsistency by retaining
the former entire, while, contrary to its spirit, they threw off spiritual
allegiance to magisterial authority. In this discourse Dr Dick recommends
that confessions of faith should be often revised, and endeavours to do
away the prejudice which prevents that being done.
From this period till 1800,
the doctor’s literary productions consisted wholly of occasional
contributions to the Christian Magazine, a monthly publication conducted
by various ministers belonging to the two largest branches of the
Secession. The contributions alluded to, were distinguished by the
signature Chorepiscopus. But in the year above named the able work
appeared on which Dr Dick’s reputation as a writer and theologian now
chiefly rests. This was "An Essay on the Inspiration of the
Scriptures;" a production which was received with great applause, and
which made the author’s name widely known throughout the religious
world. The popularity of this work was so great that it went through three
editions during Dr Dick’s lifetime, and a fourth, on which he meditated
certain alterations, which, however, he did not live to accomplish, was
called for before his death.
Dr Dick had now been
fifteen years resident at Slateford, and in this time had been twice
called to occupy the place of his father, who had died in the interval;
but the synod, in harmony with his own wishes, declined both of these
invitations, and continued him at Slateford. The time, however, had now
arrived when a change of residence was to take place. In 1801, he was
called by the congregation of Greyfriars, Glasgow, to be colleague to the
reverend Alexander Pirie, and with this call the synod complied, Dr Dick
himself expressing no opinion on the subject, but leaving it wholly to the
former to decide on the propriety and expediency of his removal. The
parting of the doctor with his congregation on this occasion was
exceedingly affecting. Their attachment to each other was singularly
strong, and their separation proportionally painful.
Having repaired to Glasgow,
Dr Dick was inducted, as colleague and successor, into his new charge, one
of the oldest and wealthiest in the Secession church, on the 21st
May, 1801. Previously to the doctor’s induction, a large portion of the
members of the congregation had withdrawn to a party who termed themselves
the Old Light; but the diligence, zeal, and talents of its ministers
speedily restored the church to its original prosperity.
From this period nothing
more remarkable occurred in Dr Dick’s life than what is comprised in the
following brief summary of events. In 1810, he succeeded, by the death of
Dr Pirie, to the sole charge of the Greyfriars. In 1815, he received the
degree of Doctor of Divinity from the college of Princetown, New Jersey,
and in the following year he published a volume of sermons. In 1820, he
was chosen to the chair of theological professor to the Associate Synod in
room of Dr Lawson of Selkirk, who died in 1819; an appointment which
involved a flattering testimony to his merits, being the most honourable
place in the gift of his communion. Yet his modesty would have declined
it, had not his friends insisted on his accepting it. For six years
subsequent to his taking the theological chair, Dr Dick continued sole
professor, but at the end of that period, viz., in 1825, a new
professorship, intended to embrace biblical literature, was established,
and the Rev. Dr John Mitchell was appointed to the situation. From this
period Dr Dick’s labours were united with those of the learned gentleman
just named.
On the retirement of the
earl of Glasgow from the presidentship of the Auxiliary Bible Society of
Glasgow, in consequence of the controversy raised regarding the
circulation of the Apocrypha, Dr Dick was chosen to that office, and in
March, 1832, he was elected president also of the Glasgow Voluntary Church
Association, to the furtherance of whose objects he lent all his influence
and talents. But his active and valuable life was now drawing to a close,
and its last public act was at hand. This was his attending a meeting on
the 23rd January, 1833, in which the lord provost of the city
presided, for the purpose of petitioning the legislature regarding
the sanctification of the sabbath. On this occasion Dr Dick was
intrusted with one of the resolutions, and delivered a very animated
address to the large and respectable assemblage which the object alluded
to had brought together; thus showing that, consistently with the opinions
he maintained as to the power of the civil magistrate in matters of
religion, he could join in an application to Parliament for the protection
of the sacred day against the encroachments of worldly and ungodly men.
On the same evening Dr Dick
attended a meeting of the session of Grey-friars, to make arrangements for
the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, but on going home he was attacked
with the complaint, a disease in the interior of the ear, which brought on
his death, after an illness of only two days’ duration. This excellent
man died on the 25th January, 1833, in the sixty-ninth year of his age,
the forty-seventh of his ministry, and the thirteenth of his
professorship. His remains were interred in the High churchyard of Glasgow
on the 1st of February following, amidst expressions of regret which
unequivocally indicated the high estimation in which he was held. About a
year after his death, his theological lectures were published in four
volumes, 8vo, with a memoir prefixed.
It only remains to be
added, that Dr Dick, during the period of his ministry in Glasgow,
attracted much notice by the delivery of a series of monthly Sabbath
evening lectures on the Acts of the Apostles, which were afterwards
published at intervals in two volumes; and, on a second edition being
called for, were collected in one volume. These lectures, which were
followed up by a series of discourses on the divine attributes, are
reckoned models for the exposition of the Holy Scriptures.
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